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The Last Show
The Last Show is a short story which was first published as the last chapter in the very first Biggles book The Camels are Coming which was published in September 1932. The story was subsequently republished in The Modern Boy Issue 298, 21st October 1933 where it was given the title Biggles' Last FLight. The story also appeared in Biggles Pioneer Air Fighter published in 1953 where it was also the last chapter. The story should not be confused with The Last Show (Biggles Flies Again), another short story with the same title which was the last chapter of Biggles Flies Again. Synopsis Biggles takes to drinking heavily to get over the emotional upheaval he went through in his love affair with Marie Janis. Major Mullen decides to post him home for his own good. The posting entails a promotion and becoming the commanding officer of a new squadron, but Biggles wants to do one last mission with 266. Plot (may contain spoilers - click on expand to read) Characters *Biggles *Major Mullen *Captain MacLaren - his name is spelt McLaren in this story *Captain Mahoney *Algy Lacey *Cowley *Newland Aircraft *Sopwith Camel *Sopwith Snipe *Sopwith Salamander *Hanoverana *Fokker Dr.I *Fokker D.VII *Bristol Fighter *D.H.9 *S.E.5 Places Visited *266 Squadron, Maranique *Lille *Chateau Boreau Mentioned Editorial Changes Changes were made to the text in the version used for Biggles Pioneer Air Fighter, presumably to make the reading more suitable for a young audience. In the main, these involved removing references to hard drinking: *"He's drinking whisky for his breakfast, and you know what that means...." changed to "He's drinking, and you know what that means...." *"He drank half a bottle of whisky yesterday morning before daylight, and he walked up to the sheds as sober as I was." This sentence is omitted. *"Good God!" becomes "Great Scott!" *"Let us stick to Camels and S.E.s ... damn all this chopping and changing about." becomes "Let us stick to Camels and S.E.s ... instead of all this chopping and changing about." *"So they know about that. My God! How the devil did thoese nosy-parkers on Intelligence...." becomes "So they know about that. How the deuce did thoese nosy-parkers on Intelligence...." *"Biggles swung round with a curse" becomes "Biggles swung round. 'Go to--'" *"'God! If I can only keep her up there....'" becomes "'If I can only keep her up there....'" Other Research Notes *Aerial Victories: Biggles 1 (Fokker, type not specified). *Other R.F.C. and R.N.A.S. Units mentioned: **287 Sqn **319 Sqn - Sopwith Snipes. Biggles was to have taken command of this squadron on 11th Nov 1918. References to the past Incongruities *By 11th Nov 1918, Lille had already been recaptured and the front had been pushed far beyond Lille to near Mons, much further to the east. So Lille could not have been a hotbed of "archie", nor could they have attacked an enemy airfield near Lille. If Chateau Boreau had been near Lille, it would have had been recaptured. Chronology (see also table at Timeline of the Biggles Stories) *The story ends with the Armistice on 11th November 1918. Publication History *''The Camels are Coming'', John Hamilton, 1932 *''The Modern Boy'', Issue 298, 21st Oct 1933 (as Biggles' Last Flight) *''Biggles in the Camels are Coming'', Boys' Friend Library, 1938 (as Chapter 17: Biggles' Last Flight) *''Biggles Pioneer Air Fighter'', Thames, 1954, reprints and further editions (as Chapter 13: The Last Show) *''Biggles: The Camels are Coming'', Red Fox, 1993 and subsequent reprints and editions *''The Camels are Coming'', Norman Wright, 2010 References Category:Short stories Category:Biggles short stories Category:World War One era short stories